Fang's Bites

Some Quick Midweek Links

I keep getting bogged down with family stuff. I’m going to try and provide some linkage now.

Deadspin’s Timothy Burke and Jack Dickey have the story of the day exposing the inspirational Manti Te’o's girlfriend story as one huge hoax.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has Twitter reaction to the Te’o girlfriend hoax.

Michael Hiestand talks with ESPN’s Stuart Scott about his cancer recurrence.

Michael asks who has to more to gain from this week’s interview, Lance Armstrong or

Scott M. Gleeson at USA Today’s Game On blog notes that Brent Musburger’s favorite Miss Alabama, Katherine Webb, will cover Super Bowl XLVII for Inside Edition.

Speaking of Brent, TMZ caught up with him as he was at an airport to talk about ESPN’s apology over his comments on Ms. Webb.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable notes that ESPN Deportes is venturing into social media.

Todd Spangler from Multichannel News says Google says Time Warner Cable is withholding its Metro Sports network from Google’s TV service in Kansas City.

David Gianatasio of Adweek writes that Nike’s new ad featuring Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods taps a familiar theme.

Simon Dumenco from Advertising Age facetiously speculates on what Lance Armstrong revealed to Oprah Winfrey.

Brandon Costa at Sports Video Group says NBC and local regional sports networks are scrambling to hire crews and production trucks for a hastily scheduled National Hockey League season.

ESPN.com’s Kristi Dosh, the Sports Biz Miss, says NHL teams are offering perks to lure fans back to the arena.

Newsday’s Neil Best says the TV networks are glad to see the National Hockey League back.

Jerry Barmash of FishbowlNY writes that MSG Network is ramping up for the 2013 NHL season.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Daily Gazette says thanks to the scheduling, there will be no New York Rangers blackouts in the Capital Region this season.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union has compiled the 2013 NHL TV schedule for the Capital Region.

David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun notes that this weekend’s Ravens-Patriots AFC Championship Game will get Super Bowl treatment from CBS.

In the Washington Post, Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog has the transcript of WaPo columnist Sally Jenkins sitdown with PBS’ Charlie Rose about Lance Armstrong.

For her part, Jenkins says she’s not mad at Armstrong.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams has ESPN’s Chris Evert being bullish on Serena Williams’ chances to sweep the Grand Slams this year.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says a long-time local sportscaster ends his TV tenure tomorrow.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman says the AFC Divisional Playoffs topped the local ratings.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a local sportscaster leaving for Chicago.

Danny Ecker of Crain’s Chicago Business writes that the Chicago NHL Team has renewed its radio deal with WGN.

Joe Flint from the Los Angeles Times reports that Fox may convert Fox Soccer into an entertainment channel.

And that’s going to do it for now.

Doing Some Monday Linkage

I’m going to make a concerted effort to do linkage regularly again. It’s the reason why I started Fang’s Bites back in 2007 and I was able to do the links daily, even on weekends. But lately, my schedule has been so busy that the site has become a press release dump and I want that to stop.

So I hope to do the links every day for you this week unless I have to be off-site, but I’m going to do my best to bring you the linkage.

So without further delay, here’s the linkage.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand talks about the drama that was the Ryder Cup at Medinah.

In Sports Business Journal, John Ourand notes that NBC Sports Network’s ratings have really fallen after getting big ratings for the 2012 London Olympics.

John reports that Fox Sports is about to renew its deal with NASCAR.

Over to the ESPN Front Row PR blog where ESPN PR maven Bill Hofheimer tells us that tonight’s Monday Night Football game between Chicago and Dallas will be Mike Tirico’s 100th contest. Congrats, Mike!

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal delves into which MLB announcer is the most biased and the results will probably confirm your suspicions.

Bloomberg’s John Helyar, Scott Church and Scott Soshnick report on MLB’s secret TV deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report says the European post-Ryder Cup press conference was an embarrassment to golf.

Ed explains how the Ryder Cup become a coveted property for NBC Sports after it was originally a sleepy event.

And Ed talks with NBC’s Roger Maltbie about his first job in television.

Mike Barnes of the Hollywood Reporter remembers former ABC and CBS motorsports voice Chris Economaki who died last week at the age of 91.

R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says the Pro Bowlers Tour is back on ESPN.

As part of a special section, Advertising Age’s Brian Steinberg notes that NBC’s Seth Winter is one of the publications Media Mavens.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group writes about the launch of Comcast SportsNet Houston which kicks off on participating cable and satellite systems (not DirecTV though) today.

Mike McCarthy at Sports Biz USA talks about how track athletes are attempting to unionize to combat the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 40 which prevents them from being in non-Olympic sponsor ads during the Games.

At the New York Post, Phil Mushnick wants NBC’s announcers to kick Tiger Woods to the curb.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Fox’s Michael Strahan and co-host of “Live with Kelly and Michael” says he got good practice for his latest gig by talking with reporters when he was a New York Football Giant.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union talks with NFL Network’s Rich Eisen.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network Radio co-host Jim Duquette about the Nationals.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle tells us about today’s launch of the latest Comcast SportsNet regional sports network.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers got screwed by the replacement and the real NFL referees.

Chicagoland Radio and Media says WGN in Chicago, not WGN America, will air tonight’s Bears-Cowboys Monday Night Football game plus a locally produced pregame show.

Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says former Comcast SportsNet reporter Sarah Kustok received an honor last week.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post notes that CBS’ Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will have called three consecutive Broncos games after next Sunday.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Tom has five things he learned from the weekend.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail says drunk tweets from an NHL player made the lockout hit home.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star previews this week’s Blogs with Balls 5 event which takes place in Canada for the first time.

At SB Nation’s Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that four sports networks will combine for 50 college hockey regular season games, none of them named “ESPN”.

Steve DelVecchio at Larry Brown Sports says comedian Norm MacDonald actually predicted the European Ryder Cup comeback on Twitter the night before Sunday’s matches.

EPL Talk says Fox Soccer needs its own English Premier League highlight show similar to what BBC has in its venerable “Match of the Day.”

Sports Media Watch says ESPN will shuffle an IndyCar race in primetime to ABC next year.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing has ten minutes of bloopers from New York Yankees radio voice John Sterling.

Matt notes that NBC inserted salsa music for Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz after scoring a touchdown for the second time in as many seasons.

And that’s going to wrap up the links for today.

Tiger Woods’ Win In AT&T National Scores Eagle For CBS

Tiger Woods came through with a win this past weekend at the AT&T National outside Washington, DC. The win gave Woods his 75th career PGA Tour win passing Jack Nicklaus.

The overnight rating for the Final Round Sunday on CBS was a 4.6 with a 10 share and that excludes the markets of Baltimore, Columbus, Washington, DC and Philadelphia due to heavy storms in those cities over the weekend. With those markets factored in, you can imagine how high the rating would be. This is 188% higher from last year. Yes, the Tiger Effect is alive and well on the PGA Tour.

We have the short CBS blurb on the AT&T National.

CBS SPORTS’ RATINGS FOR FINAL-ROUND COVERAGE OF AT&T NATIONAL UP 188%

That’s it.

Doing Some Monday Linkage

Let’s bring out some Monday links today.

Starting with Michael Hiestand of USA Today, he talks with Fox’s Erin Andrews (weird to write that) about her decision to leave ESPN.

A.J. Perez of Fox Sports has Erin’s reaction to joining the network.

Jane Kellogg and Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter write about Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

As for replacing Erin at ESPN, Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead seems to be in Samantha Steele’s corner.

Back to Hiestand at USA Today, he notes that the U.S. Olympic Trials scored for NBC this past weekend.

Michael says the CBS Sports golf crew did as best as they could in a difficult situation when heavy storms ravaged the Washington, DC area and affected the AT&T National PGA Tour stop.

John Ourand at Sports Business Daily talks with NBCUniversal’s CEO on how important the Olympics are important to the company.

Ryan Wilson at CBS Sports notes that the NFL has changed its blackout policy, reducing the requirements for local teams to ensure games will be seen in local markets.

Also at CBS Sports, Dennis Dodd writes that the Big 12′s TV contract has still yet to gain approval from the league’s presidents.

To Ed Sherman at The Sherman Report and he remembers the passing of Jack Buck ten years later.

Ed also looks at Erin Andrews leaving ESPN for Fox.

Scott Roxborough of the Hollywood Reporter notes that the EURO 2012 Final racked up the ratings in Europe.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Comcast SportsNet Chicago has entered the game show arena.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says the broadcast networks are looking to sports and reality to attract viewers during the dead summer season.

Bill Cromwell of Media Life notes NBC’s plans for the London Olympics later this month.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that NBC is mostly sold for the Tour de France.

Kevin Iole at Yahoo’s Boxing Experts Blog writes about NBC Sports expanding its boxing portfolio.

Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says no matter how you look at it, the NFL is a monopoly.

Jason Dachman from Sports Video Group notes the amount of cameras ESPN is using at the X Games.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post goes after college athletics once again.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says a local minor league hockey announcer is moving on.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times-Herald Record talks with some area sports radio personalities about WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

The Scranton (PA) Times-Tribune notes that an announcer with local ties will be part of NBC’s Olympic broadcast team.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic’s Chick Hernandez was hit by a Tiger Woods drive this weekend.

Tom Jones of the Tampa Bay Times still yearns for the faulty BCS.

Gary Brown of the Canton (OH) Repository notes that a Golf Channel crew was in town to do a story on a local golf pro.

At the Denver Post, Dusty Saunders says the U.S. Olympic Trials serve as an appetizer for the main course later this month.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for this week.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin pays tribute to a colleague who’s retiring this month.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing looks at the free agent frenzy among the TV networks over the last year.

Timothy Burke at Deadspin has the video of gymnast Nastia Liukin doing a horrific faceplant off the uneven bars during last night’s US Gymnastic Olympic Trials.

Paul M. Banks at the Sports Bank says a popular Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter picked up a lot of Twitter love when she joined the service a few days ago.

MediaRantz notes that WFAN’s Boomer and Carton could be nationally syndicated on CBS Sports Radio in January.

Joe Favorito talks about the growth of American soccer.

And those are all of the links I could squeeze out today.

Attempting A Friday Megalink Post

This week has been hellish for me and I apologize for not being able to post as much as I would like. I’ve been away from my computer for most of the day and by the time I get home, I’m tired and don’t want to update the blog.

Well, with me already done my errands for today, I’ll give you some linkage that has been seriously lacking this week.

Of course, there’s the Weekend Viewing Picks which you can peruse.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jim Rome is hoping to make a splash as he prepares to launch his new daily show on CBS Sports Network.

Reid Cherner of USA Today’s Game On! blog says perpetually angry ESPN college basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb is throwing his hat into the Kansas State coaching ring.

The Associated Press was on hand to witness Root Sports Northwest’s production of the Seattle Mariners-Oakland A’s regular season openers in Japan without actually traveling to the Far East.

Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim has more thoughts on the numerous conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand has Fox Sports’ statement on its carriage dispute with Time Warner Cable over Fox Sports San Diego.

John profiles legendary sports television producer Don Ohlmeyer.

Around the Rings has the press release regarding the European Broadcasting Union obtaining the rights to the World Cups in 2018 and 2022.

ESPN Ombudsman Jason Fry of the Poynter Institute says college basketball analyst Bob Knight should not be allowed to live by his own rules when he’s on TV.

Scott Soshnick and Steven Church of Bloomberg Businessweek says the Los Angeles Dodgers sale was sparked by media rights.

Alex Ben Block of the Hollywood Reporter says former Sony Pictures head Peter Gruber who’s part of the new Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group could bring a new attitude towards marketing the team.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable has Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott calling rights fees for college football are undervalued.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News says NESN National is being launched in Indianapolis.

Tim Nudd at Adweek says Chrysler is unveiling four new follow ups to its “Halftime in America” Super Bowl spots during various events this weekend including the NCAA Final Four and Mad Men.

Adweek’s Mike Shields writes ESPN.com is partaking in Facebook’s Open Graph, but with some restrictions.

Jason Del Ray at Advertising Age notes that CBS/Turner brought in its highest sales revenue ever for March Madness Live.

Ronnie Ramos at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says March Madness has been enhanced by social media and the digital experience.

The Brothers Yoder at Awful Announcing cast the upcoming Anchorman sequel using ESPN’ers. This is good.

Ben Koo at AA is not a huge fan of the overhead shots employed by CBS/Turner for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid says the Los Angeles Times feels there’s one person who could spoil the new ownership for the Dodgers.

Ahmed Yussuf at EPL Talk gives a first-hand account of following the English Premier League from Australia.

Sports Media Watch says last weekend’s rain-shortened NASCAR on Fox event did not do well in the ratings.

Joe Favorito asks if ‘The Hunger Games” could give archery a boost in time for this summer’s Olympics.

Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead reports that Joe Posnanski is leaving Sports Illustrated.

Ty Duffy at The Big Lead says the potential Fox cable sports network may not knock down ESPN, but could give it a run for its money.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks about two rival Hollywood agencies representing Tim Tebow simultaneously.

Bob’s Blitz says WFAN’s Craig Carton browbeat former Tiger Woods swing coach Hank Haney to the point where he hung up.

Brandon Costa of Sports Video Group says CBS returns to New Orleans where it began its Final Four journey 30 years ago.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe says ESPN MLB analyst Curt Schilling is facing hypocrisy calls after he criticized his former Red Sox team this week.

Chad adds some thoughts on Schilling and on NESN’s Jenny Dell that didn’t make his column.

Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch writes in SB Nation that a Tiger Woods in contention is good for The Masters^® and its TV partners.

Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times reviews this year’s edition of the MLB At-Bat app.

Richard Sandomir from the Times examines the Dodgers sale.

Anthony Riemer of Newsday looks at Jeremy Lin’s lunch with the sacked ESPN.com editor who unwittingly made a racial slur last month.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post feels Fox Sports’ Jimmy Johnson should not be advocating violence. I don’t think he did, Phil, but continue to hate everything, ok?

Justin Terranova of the Post has five questions for former Tennessee and current Sirius XM analyst Bruce Pearl on the Final Four.

The Albany Times Union’s Pete Dougherty has the ESPN MAC football schedule.

Pete has CBS excited about this year’s Final Four.

Jane Kwiatkowski of the Buffalo News says this is a tough time for the local TV sportscast.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call looks at a local PBS documentary on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia is ready for Phillies baseball.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says the Fox sitcom “Raising Hope” gave another of many Capitals references.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with MLB Network’s Mitch “Wildi Thing” Williams.

South

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle writes that the Houston Open should be helped by a lot of interesting storylines.

David says Jim Rome is getting ready for his CBS Sports Network closeup.

David writes that Texans running back Arian Foster is taking his show to the team’s radio flagship station.

In The Oklahoman, Mel Bracht has ESPN’s MLB analysts predicting the upcoming season.

Mel says there will be plenty of baseball available in the Oklahoma City market.

Mel reports a local radio station has flipped to being a full-time ESPN Radio affiliate.

Mel writes that a local radio sports director has been laid off thanks to Clear Channel.

Midwest

Elton Alexander of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer says New Orleans has provided CBS with plenty of Final Four excitement.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says a local TV station plans to ride the Kentucky train for as long as possible.

John says a couple of long-time local radio veterans got the ax due to Clear Channel cost cutting.

John writes that a radio documentary on late Cincinnati Reds voice Waite Hoyt airs this weekend.

The Indianapolis Star says Butler coach Brad Stevens will be a guest analyst for CBS on the Final Four.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes the Brewers have extended their radio rights deal with their long-time flagship station.

Bob says a local sportscaster is back to work after a long illness.

Bob tells us that Marquette coach Buzz Williams will also be a guest analyst on CBS this weekend.

Paul Christian of the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin writes that CBS loves New Orleans at Final Four time.

Dan Caesar at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says 20 Cardinals games won’t be seen by AT&T U-Verse subscribers this season.

Dan writes that the defending champions Cardinals will be in the national spotlight quite a few times this season.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that Fox Sports San Diego is not optimistic of getting a deal with two cable providers in time for Padres opening day.

Jim Carlisle of the Ventura County Star has ESPN’s MLB analysts praising Magic Johnson’s presence with the Dodgers.

Jim was surprised that Kentucky-Louisville wasn’t the nightcap for the Final Four.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Lakers fans are enjoying having guest analysts on radio broadcasts this season.

Tom talks with Jim Rome about his CBS Sports Network show.

Tom has more on Rome in his blog.

Canada

The usually uninformed Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says CBC Sports appears to be rudderless as it heads into a new NHL negotiation.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog has the viewership numbers for Canadian sports television from last week.

And that will conclude the megalinks.

Late Monday Night Links

As promised earlier today, I’m giving you more links. I was out earlier today and I’ll be out again tomorrow so it’s going to be a bit crazy for me. So let’s get to the linkage right now.

Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch looks at the media circus that was the Tim Tebow press conference at the New York Jets practice facility on Monday.

Speaking of Richard, he and CNBC’s Darren Rovell were locked in Round 2 of their Twitter feud. This was fun while it lasted as Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing recaps.

Matt notes that Al Trautwig of MSG Network had a slip of the tongue.

And Matt is gleeful that ESPN’s Jonathan Coachman also had a similar slip.

Christina Settimi of Forbes looks at baseball’s biggest local cable TV rights deals.

George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN has promoted an executive to handle its international digital media efforts.

Sam Laird of Mashable notes that the Boston Bruins have launched their own social media portal, believed to the first in pro sports.

Todd Cunningham at The Wrap says with Tiger Woods win this past weekend, CBS now looks forward to having masterful ratings for The Masters^® in two weeks.

Dale Buss of Brand Channel writes that Jockey brand underwear welcomed Tim Tebow to New York as only it could.

Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew has one of the funniest on-screen graphics pulled by Fox Sports Midwest during a St. Louis Cardinals exhibition game.

Jesse Sawyer of the Avon (CT) Patch says ESPN’s Kenny Mayne has sold his Connecticut home over half a year after he moved his family to Washington State.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post hates everybody.

Breaking the Bob Raissman ban to note that the New York Daily News curmudgeon feels Tim Tebow is already a pro at handling the Big Apple media circus.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union notes that the ratings for the NCAA Tournament this past weekend took a huge hit thanks to Tiger Woods.

Greg Connors of the Buffalo News writes about ESPN’s three month-long initiative to celebrate Title IX.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call talks about the departure of local native Meredith Marakovits for the bright lights of New York.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog tells us that he’s going to have a partner on the blog.

And Sarah Kogod introduces herself to DC Sports Bog readers in her first post.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Tennis Channel’s Mary Carillo.

Tom Jones from the Tampa Bay Times reviews the weekend in sports television.

Mel Bracht of The Oklahoman notes that the Oklahoma City Thunder set a new ratings record.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says a nationally syndicated radio morning show will be in town for Reds Opening Day.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Wisconsin-Syracuse in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 did well in the local ratings.

Scott D. Pierce at the Salt Lake Tribune says BYU basketball coach Dave Rose has a future in TV if he so chooses.

Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says an investment bank helped to broker the Pac-12 media rights contract with ESPN and Fox plus other huge sports and entertainment megadeals.

Joe reports that DirecTV and Tribune are in a dispute over the company’s TV stations and this could include WGN America which carries a bunch of sports programming.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail has yet another amazingly uninformed column not realizing that CBS and Turner share the NCAA Tournament and CBS no longer regionalizes games. Many Canadian college basketball fans are aware of this, yet Bruce is not.

Sports Media Watch looks at the lower ratings generated by the NCAA Tournament over the weekend.

SMW has the viewership for the first primetime effort by ESPN2′s First Take.

To Macgasm where we learn that ESPN is teaming with Apple to make sports scores available on the Siri voice platform on the iPhone 4S.

Joe Favorito asks does UFC really needs New York to be successful?

Jim Connelly at USCHO.com wonders if ESPN is doing more to hurt the NCAA Men’s Hockey Tournament than help promote it.

Maury Brown at the Biz of Baseball wonders when MLB Network will hit Canada.

And we’ll end it there. Good night.

Quick Monday Linkage

Don’t have much time today. I’ll do a few links for you here while I can.

USA Today’s Michael Hiestand has CBS/Turner’s Clark Kellogg saying he wouldn’t be surprised if Kentucky lost in the Final Four this weekend.

Mr. College Football, Tony Barnhart of CBS Sports, remembers his former colleague at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Furman Bisher.

Tim Wood at the Bleacher Report announces some new hirings. BR has been on a hiring binge lately.

ESPN2 aired the Jets/Tim Tebow press conference today with a twist. Can you believe showing Skippy Bayless on his laptop, live tweeting the event? Yes indeed. Very bad television.

Eric Goldschein of SportsGrid notes that a SiriusXM Radio host decided to use his satellite radio show to criticize the Miami Heat for the famous picture of the entire team wearing hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin.

Doug Farrar at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner says Fox Sports is considering using suspended New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton as an analyst this season.

To Mike Florio at Pro Football Talk who says don’t expect the NFL to give the public a partial 2012 regular season schedule release this week.

Keith Thibault of Sports Media Journal catches up with CBS Sports Network/Dial Global Radio announcer Dave Ryan who’s calling the NCAA Women’s Tournament on radio this week.

Ken Kerschbaumer at Sports Video Group notes that Longhorn Network uses fiber optics rather than satellite trucks to transmit game action from University of Texas campus back to its broadcast facility.

Toni Fitzgerald at Media Life says a NCAA Tournament overrun helped CBS win the Sunday night primetime ratings.

Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age says the NFL and Nike are hyping their new partnership which both companies say will revolutionize the league’s apparel.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Tiger Woods’ win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this weekend might have helped his popularity.

Yesterday, we learned that legendary boxing writer and historian Bert Sugar died at the age of 75. Sugar was one of the most popular figures covering the sweet science. But in addition to covering boxing, Sugar wrote about baseball and was good at it. When I hosted a one-hour radio sports show in Groton, CT, Bert gave me one of the best interviews I ever had. He was witty, funny, brilliant and put everything into its proper perspective. And he sent me a book that he had written about boxing. One of the nicest men in the sports media you’ll ever have the chance to meet. And unfortunately, he’s gone.

Tim Smith of the New York Daily News says Sugar had been suffering from lung cancer, but typical of Bert, he kept it quiet from most of his friends.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com says Bert will be missed.

Michael Woods of ESPN New York has an appreciation of Sugar.

Bob Velin of USA Today also has an obituary for Sugar.

Gary Mihoces of USA Today says Sugar was definitely a colorful character.

Lem Satterfield of The Ring, the digital home of Ring Magazine where Sugar once worked, has reaction to his death.

Promoter Jackie Kallen in Boxing Insider bids farewell to her friend.

Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun has a couple of memories of Bert Sugar.

I’ll do some more linkage tonight.

Some Quick Monday Night Linkage

Since we did our linkage this morning, there have been several stories worthy of links and they really should not wait until Tuesday. So I’ll do a set of links right now.

We start with Jason McIntyre of The Big Lead who reports on a fake tweet about ESPN’s Erin Andrews leaving the network (her contract is expiring) and the personalities at the Alleged Worldwide Leader who are negotiating new deals.

MediaRantz recaps how this tweet got circulated and had to be quickly debunked by ESPN.

Matt Yoder at Awful Announcing goes over an interesting Twitter feud between comedian Norm Macdonald and ESPN’s Rick Reilly.

Matt says Digger Phelps wasn’t on his “A” game during Sunday night’s Bracketology show on ESPN.

John Ourand and Michael Smith of Sports Business Journal has CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus talking about the new authentication and pay system for the March Madness mobile app.

Daniel B. Wood of the Christian Science Monitor notes that the ESPN Films documentary on Magic Johnson’s HIV-positive announcement 20 years ago shows how far we have come in our attitude on the disease.

Conor Nagle at Wei Under Par writes that NBC went into bizzaro world in attempting to cover Tiger Woods’ leg injury at the WGC Cadillac Championships.

At Puck The Media, Steve Lepore notes that the NHL on NBC hit a season low overnight rating on Sunday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell goes inside the numbers with March Madness.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette writes that fans hoping to watch this weekend’s ECAC Hockey Championships will have to do so online (scroll down).

Katie Kramer of the Syracuse Post-Standard has ESPN’s Joe Lunardi saying that local fans give him the hardest time when it comes to his brackets.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams has CBS/Turner’s Jim Nantz and Marv Albert both talking about the NCAA Tournament.

Dave Walker at the New Orleans Times-Picayune says social media has helped to popularize March Madness.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle says the departure of Texans’ offensive lineman Eric Winston will leave a big hole at a local sports radio station.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer has the networks, announcing assignments and tip times for games of local interest from the NCAA Tournament.

Writing in OnMilwaukee, departing local sports radio host Doug Russell has one wish for the market as he leaves town.

Aaron Morton of the Deseret (UT) News explains to BYU fans where they can find truTV.

Sports Media Watch says the NCAA Tournament Selection Show had its lowest overnight ratings since 1989!!!!

Carol Einarssen at Race Journal Online has Cheers and Jeers for Fox’s NASCAR coverage.

Sox & Dawgs has video of Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine speaking with former ESPN colleagues Karl Ravech and John Kruk during Monday’s exhibition game against Miami.

And that will complete the posts for Monday

Your Monday Linkage

Back to work for many of you. Let’s get some Monday links in.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today says the networks have missed a competitive Tiger Woods.

Tom Weir of USA Today adds that Cleveland Cavs owner Dan Gilbert has pulled his Quicken Loans ads from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show over a budding controversy.

The independent Gannett Blog notes that all of USA Today’s sports staffers have been told to reapply for their jobs as part of a newsroom reorganization. Oh, that’s nice.

At Forbes, Douglas Alden Warshaw says Comcast is going all in on sports and chronicles how it survived the loss of NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol last year.

To Mashable where Sam Laird notes that ESPN is opening up its source code so developers can build apps around the Alleged Worldwide Leader’s sports information.

Michael Schottey at Bleacher Report says it’s time to end the archaic NFL blackout rules.

Nat Ives with Advertising Age writes that magazines like Sports Illustrated are finding at what price is best to bundle print and tablet subscriptions.

Also at AdAge, Brian Steinberg looks at NBC’s ad sales pitch for the London Olympics.

To Adweek where Anthony Crupi says car rental company Enterprise will ramp up a new March Madness spot for the NCAA Tournament.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group says MLB Network is gearing up for this week’s Cleveland-Arizona telecast which will feature nearly real-time audio from the field.

Double G Sports interviews Friend of Fang’s Bites Jen Royle.

To Comcast SportsNet New England’s Tom Curran who says the Boston Globe treats the Red Sox and Patriots differently when it comes to their off-the-field business deals.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick says it may take civil action to finally put an end to bounties in the NFL.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that the ratings for the final round of the Honda Classic were good.

From the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner writes that a U.S. Senator is seeking an end to NFL blackouts.

Kevin Callahan of the Cherry Hill (NJ) Courier-Post talks with ESPN’s Ron Jaworski about being booted out of the Monday Night Football booth.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says ESPN’s Bram Weinstein is forever grateful to former Georgetown coach John Thompson.

Tom Jones at the Tampa Bay Times writes that a new sports radio talk show premieres today.

Tom also reviews the weekend in sports television.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Green Bay Packers have changed flagship TV stations.

In Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman says local MLB teams are cashing in on huge rights fees, except for the Cubs and White Sox.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that the Cardinals have set their spring training radio schedule.

Dan says this week, Joe Buck is co-hosting a local radio show that could lead to a podcast or a nationally syndicated show.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post writes that quarterbacks help drive the NFL engine.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has your sports calendar for this week.

Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle says NBC Sports Group will attempt to attract viewers to the 2013 America’s Cup.

Steve Ladurantaye of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that Yahoo is considering a bid for the Canadian TV and online rights for the 2014/16 Olympics after two combined efforts by CBC/CTV were thrown by the International Olympic Committee for being too low.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Globe and Mail wonders if CBC will pay a price with the NHL for Don Cherry’s candor on Coach’s Corner.

Damien Cox of the Toronto Star says Cherry’s criticisms of Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke are getting out of hand.

Joseph Hall at the Star says Cherry remains at odds with Burke.

Sports Media Watch says Tiger Woods helped drive the Honda Classic’s overnight ratings to a 10 year high.

SMW says North Carolina-Duke gave ESPN its highest college basketball overnight ratings in 3 years despite a blowout.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the NHL on NBC’s overnight ratings continue on a steady upward trend.

And we’ll end the links there for today. Enjoy the rest of your Monday.

Wringing Out Some Friday Megalinks

Let’s do your media megalinks since last week you did not get any.

Hard to believe that college baseball, college lacrosse and NASCAR seasons are starting up, but they are and they’re included in the Weekend Viewing Picks along with the regular Golf, NBA, NHL, Skiing, Soccer, Tennis and Entertainment recommendations.

To your links now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says Jeremy Lin will make his nationwide broadcast network debut this weekend.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable notes that Floyd Mayweather’s next pay per view fight has been set by HBO for the spring.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that Jeremy Lin continues to drive the MSG Network ratings engine.

Mike Shields of Adweek looks at CBS/Turner Sports’ plans to charge to view the NCAA Tournament online.

Ted Johnson of Variety talks with Ken Solomon of Tennis Channel on his ongoing battle to get a better footing with Comcast.

Michael Bradley at the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center says the Jeremy Lin media coverage is over the top.

Sports Media Watch notes the increased viewership for the NHL on NBC Sports Network.

SMW says Pardon the Interruption’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon have lent their voices to a Disney XD cartoon series.

Andy Hall at ESPN Front Row PR blog celebrates the 5th anniversary of NASCAR’s return to the network.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Jeremy Lin’s agent.

Andrew Bucholtz writing his first article for Awful Announcing looks at the reaction to Jeremy Lin in Canada.

Mat Yoder at AA says the ratings for last weekend’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am show fans are still interested in Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Joe Favorito explores the steady growth of college lacrosse.

Mark J. Miller of Brandchannel says NASCAR fans don’t like it when drivers juggle sponsor logos throughout the Sprint Cup season.

The Big Lead has ESPN’s Erin Andrews out and about during New York’s Fashion Week.

Chris Chase at Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner notes that ESPN has been coaching Jon Gruden to use his words judiciously.

Harrison Mooney of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy says Jeremy Lin’s drawing power might indirectly benefit the New York Rangers, Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils which have been missing from Time Warner Cable systems in addition to the Knicks.

David B. Wilkerson at MarketWatch wonders if the MSG/Time Warner Cable feud will eventually push sports into a premium tier.

East and Mid-Atlantic

The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn gets some advice for new NESN Red Sox field reporter Jenny Dell from MSG’s Tina Cervasio.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch pays tribute to Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan who announced he’s retiring after the London Olympics.

Surviving Grady has a podcast with Jen Royle.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times looks at the new charge for viewing the NCAA Tournament online.

Richard writes about the increased ratings for Knicks games since Jeremy Lin arrived on the scene.

Phil Mushnick at the New York Post is in rare form today even for him.

Brett Cyrgalis of the Post has five questions for CBS college basketball analyst Bill Raftery.

The Post’s David Seifman reports that the New York City Council is pressuring MSG Network and Time Warner Cable to work out a deal.

Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News writes that ESPN bumped tonight’s Hornets-Knicks game not realizing it would be another opportunity to showcase Jeremy Lin.

Jerry Barmash from Fishbowl NY has reaction from various NYC sports anchors to the death of former Mets catcher Gary Carter.

Mike Silva at the Sports Media Watchdog feels hockey coverage in New York is woefully inadequate.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that a local sports TV reporter received a New York Emmy nomination.

Pete lists his top studio analysts.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has the latest in Baltimore-Washington DC sports media news in Press Box.

Dan Steinberg at the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has a clip of Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon as cartoon characters.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner says talks with sports business writer Evan Weiner about the NFL’s antiquated blackout rules.

South

Barry Jackson at the Miami Herald has some thoughts on Shaquille O’Neal’s rookie season at TNT and ESPN’s decision to remove Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Astros plan to bring in former players to their radio booth to celebrate the team’s 50th season.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman notes the first network appearance of Jeremy Lin is this Sunday.

Midwest

The Detroit Free Press notes that all of the Tigers games will be on TV this season.

Bob Wolfey of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Dick Enberg told a captive audience at Marquette University about the art of the pause and when to use it in broadcasting.

Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business has his weekly winners and losers in sports business and media.

To the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin where Paul Christian writes that Fox Sports North will be all over the Minnesota Twins this season.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the Cardinals have mostly put the kybosh on late afternoon games at Busch Stadium this season.

Dan says a local sports radio host is recovering after undergoing heart bypass surgery.

West

Jay Posner at the San Diego Union-Tribune writes that the new Fox Sports San Diego is set to launch next month.

Jay writes the San Diego Padres stand to double their rights fees from Fox as compared to Cox a year ago.

John Maffei at the North County Times says the official announcement between Fox Sports San Diego carrying the Padres is due any time now.

At the Ventura County Star, Jim Carlisle says NBC and the NHL have become very good partners.

Jim feels ESPN should not have jettisoned Ron Jaworski from Monday Night Football.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times notes that ESPN college football analyst Ed Cunningham is up for a Best Documentary Oscar.

Bill Shakin of the Times says Frank McCourt’s legal problems are holding up Fox’s announcement with the Padres.

Tom Hoffarth from the Los Angeles Daily News recaps a lecture from three noted network broadcasters discussing TV coverage of the Olympics.

And that’s going to conclude the megalinks for today.

Golf Channel & NBC Sports Analysts Discuss Tiger Woods’ 1st Win in Two Years

On Sunday, Tiger Woods won the Chevron World Challenge, a tournament that he’s hosted for the last few years. Well, it’s not an official PGA Tour event as it came after the Tour season is over, however, a win is a win. This marks the first win for Tiger in two years since his martial troubles. We have the comments from Golf Channel and NBC Sports in regards to Tiger’s big win. Let’s take a look.

GOLF CHANNEL AND NBC SPORTS ANALYSTS COMMENT ON TIGER WOODS’ VICTORY TODAY AT THE CHEVRON WORLD CHALLENGE

Sunday’s Hour-Long Golf Central Featuring Tiger Woods’ Post-Tournament News Conference Available Online at GolfChannel.com

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 4, 2011 – As seen live on NBC Sunday, Tiger Woods shot consecutive birdies to close his final round and record his first professional victory in over two years at the Chevron World Challenge.

The NBC Sports Group captured all of the action with live coverage both on Golf Channel and NBC, and followed the tournament with an hour-long edition of Golf Central that featured Woods’ post-tournament news conference in its entirety. In total, the NBC Sports Group televised a combined 16 hours of live tournament action from the Chevron World Challenge Thursday-Sunday.

GolfChannel.com has posted the hour-long Golf Central recapping the Chevron World Challenge on the home page of the web site, featuring Woods’ news conference in its entirety.

Golf Channel and NBC Analyst Quotes:

ROGER MALTBIE: “Tiger reminded us why he’s been the greatest player of his generation and maybe the best of all-time. This is the performance we’ve been waiting for. The drama…the big putts…when they matter the most. What a thrill ride.”

MARK ROLFING: “Tiger’s win today was not only important for him, it was really important for golf. You could sense the excitement all day, especially last few holes. There was nothing artificial about it, today was important for the game. I haven’t seen him perform in two years the way he did on 17 and 18. The putt at 17 changed everything today. That was the most important putt I’ve seen him hit in the last couple of years.”

GARY KOCH: “I think you can sense this coming, certainly from what we saw at The Presidents Cup and the way Tiger was swinging the club – controlling the ball and playing shots that we had not see him be able to play in quite some time. It was just a matter of time until this first win came about. Bottom line was he made two crucial putts that he needed to make – putts that we have seen him make in the past on a regular basis – but not recently. Today he was able to get that done.”

CHARLIE RYMER: “For Tiger, it all started clicking for him at The Presidents Cup. You could see this win coming. The Chevron World Challenge certainly isn’t a major or even a full-field event, but it could prove to be one of Tiger’s most significant wins. We don’t know what Tiger 2.0 will look like, but he’s now proven himself that he can win again. And he got there through hard work, belief in a new method and belief in himself. Watching Tiger win today was almost like watching a new young talent break through for his first win. It wasn’t done with band aids and duct tape, it was done with solid fundamentals.”

I have a couple of more press releases before I shut it down.

Bringing Out The Monday Links

With this being Columbus Day, it’s a holiday for some of you. Not for me, but for some. I hope you’re able to enjoy the day. Let’s do some links.

Sports Business Journal has a look at some of the important women in sports business.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says former Red Sox manager Terry Francona doesn’t see television in his future.

Reid Cherner of USA Today writes that overzealous NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus is clarifying his “I’m a Golden God”-like comment to “60 Minutes”.

Phil Swann of TV Predictions says it’s a swing.. and a miss for Fox’s HD picture at the American League Championship Series.

Lindsay Powers from the Hollywood Reporter notes that Green Bay-Atlanta steered NBC to a big ratings win on Sunday.

Etan Vlessing at the Reporter writes that Don Cherry is out of step with CBC’s public position on head shots in the NHL.

Laura Martinez of Multichannel News reports that ESPN2 will air two episodes of a Spanish-language ESPN Deportes scripted series following a soccer doubleheader on Tuesday.

Daniel Frankel and Lucas Shaw of The Wrap tell us that ESPN and TNT could stand to lose a lot of revenue if the NBA doesn’t settle its lockout soon.

As the NBC gremlins force YouTube to take down the infamous hot dog thrown at Tiger Woods video, we note that it’s still up at SportsGrid as Dan Fogarty informs us.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing has video of Gus Johnson’s classic touchdown call from Saturday’s Texas A&M-Texas Tech game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with movie director Cameron Crowe on who was really the inspiration for movie character superagent Jerry Maguire. Last night, “60 Minutes” falsely said it was Drew Rosenhaus.

Pat Gordon of Cape Cod Online wishes Hank Williams, Jr. would go away.

Kevin Paul Dupont from the Boston Globe writes that Hank Williams, Jr. got it wrong by invoking Adolf Hitler when speaking of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.

Mark Blaudshun of the Globe has Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo saying ESPN was behind the Syracuse and Pittsburgh defections from the Big East to the ACC.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times says the college sports upheaval is also effecting mid-major conferences.

From the New York Daily News, Eric Barrow says ESPN NFL analyst Merril Hoge advises how you should tie a tie.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick seems to just get the notion that “You Can’t Predict Baseball.”

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks with Andrew Catalon who recently filled in on CBS for an NFL game. Andrew did a very good job, too.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette says a local radio legend has retired.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says ESPN viewers will get multi-lingual coverage of the Pan American Games.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog where Dan Steinberg notes that Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis wants to bring cell phone concessions to the Verizon Center.

The Washington Examiner’s Jim Williams says the Nationals’ TV ratings are looking up despite finishing dead last among all MLB teams in 2011.

Tom Jones at the St. Petersburg Times looks back at the weekend in sports television.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says the Texans have signed a long-term extension with CBS Radio.

David says Texans voice Marc Vandermeer took yesterday’s loss to the Raiders quite hard.

Tim Twentyman of the Detroit News says Mike Tirico is able to drive his own car to call tonight’s Monday Night Football game instead of flying in ahead of time.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with Brewers TV voice Brian Anderson who’s calling the NLCS on TBS.

Bob says the Brewers and Packers got a lot of national airtime on Sunday.

Bob has the local ratings for the Brewers and Packers.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business speaks with ESPN’s Mike Tirico who gets to call a “home” game tonight.

Dan Caesar of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that embattled announcer Dan McLaughlin has lost one of gigs in the wake of his second DUI arrest.

Dusty Saunders at the Denver Post says Broncos QB Tim Tebow perked up an otherwise moribund sports weekend in the Rocky Mountain region.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says LA was not switched from Raiders-Texans yesterday to join the Chargers as it would have in the past.

Tom has the SoCal sports calendar for this week.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail writes that CBC’s Ron MacLean chose to cover for Don Cherry rather than challenge his comments on fighting from last week.

The Toronto Star’s Raju Mudhar notes that Cherry is doing what he does best, stir the pot.

Sports Media Watch looks at the NBA’s lockout strategy.

SMW says last week’s NASCAR race on ESPN had a slight ratings uptick.

Steve Lepore’s Puck The Media has a profile of Los Angeles Kings Hall of Fame announcer Bob Miller.

Joe Favorito says UFC continues to steadily build its brand.

And we’ll end it there for today.

Doing Some Sunday Links

I haven’t been able to provide a Sunday link dump for you in a while so it’s time to provide some while I can. I do have to do a Sunday thoughts column and again, haven’t done one in a while so I hope to get that done for you later today. Too many thoughts in my head and I have to release them!

I apologize for not being able to do links since Wednesday. I’ve been at jobsites in Rhode Island and Massachusetts and that has taken my days to the point when I get home, it’s tough to do anything. I hope this upcoming week won’t be as busy.

To the links.

Richard Deitsch from Sports Illustrated has his latest Media Power List. Some good names on the list I should say.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News writes that the NFL preseason opener on ESPN took down MTV’s Jersey Shore on Thursday. Maybe there is hope for us all.

EJ Schultz of Advertising Age says Anheuser-Busch is taking a big $50 million gamble by having Bud Light become the official beer of the NFL replacing Coors Light.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writes in the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center that the media still has some lessons to learn from the public fallout between Tiger Woods and his former caddie, Steve Williams.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell finally finds an Under Armour running shoe he likes.

Speaking of Darren, SportsNewser’s Marcus Vanderberg writes that Darren and Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio will be getting their own shows on the soon-to-be rebranded Versus in the new year.

Marcus tells us that ESPN Radio Los Angeles will be picking up New York Jets games this season. Ok.

Karen Hogan of Sports Video Group looks at Fox tackling college football in a big way through its Game of the Week series on FX.

Pete Thamel of the New York Times explores the anarchy that reigns college football.

Newsday’s Neil Best has a partial transcript from HBO’s Real Sports interview with Jets wide receiver Plaxico Burress.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post proclaims to be looking out for the little guy. Whatever.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette writes one TV station in New York’s Capital Region will be busy with sports.

Ken McMillan at the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record lists the local affiliates for the Jets and Giants radio networks.

Jim Williams from the Washington Examiner talks with ESPN NASCAR voice Allen Bestwick about calling a race at the Watkins Glen road course as opposed to traditional oval tracks.

Tim Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says former Braves broadcaster, the late Ernie Johnson, Sr. is being remembered fondly. Johnson died Friday at the age of 87.

Mark Bradley of the AJC says Johnson was the kindest of men.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle provides some thoughts on the NCAA’s ban of college networks airing high school games.

Dan Caesar in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that NFL Network has finally been picked up by Charter Communications.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has an extensive interview with Dodgers GM Ned Colletti.

Sports Media Watch says ESPN’s NFL preseason opener drew better ratings than last year’s game.

Joe Favorito writes that Northwestern University is conducting a highly original marketing campaign for a Heisman Trophy candidate.

The Toronto Sports Media blog notes some changes at TSN Sports Radio.

And TSM talks about some wholesale changes at the Toronto Star that will effect its sports section.

And that’s it for now. I hope to add some more links later.

A Few Late Night Links

Due to the fact that I had to go in and out of the office five times for various errands and meetings during the day, I was not able to provide linkage. And due to the fact that there are some good stories lingering, I don’t want to leave you without some links. So I’ll do a quick set of links now and hopefully will be able to do a full set on Wednesday.

Let’s start with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who talks with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit who sets the record straight about why he moved away from his beloved Columbus to Tennessee.

Matthew Belloni of the Hollywood Reporter says a federal judge has shot down Comcast’s request to block a DirecTV ad campaign on offering “free” NFL games.

Jon Lafayette at Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News says ESPN helped to steer parent company Disney to higher earnings in the 3rd quarter of its fiscal year.

From Mike Reynolds from Multichannel, ESPN saw its highest viewership for an MLB contest dating back to 2007 thanks to Yankees-Red Sox on Sunday.

Mike writes that NFL Network saw its best Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony audience ever since it began airing the event in 2003.

Bill Cromwell at Media Life Magazine writes that media buyers are skeptical that the 2011-12 NBA season will begin on time if it’s played at all.

Writing for Forbes, the SportsBizMiss, the always lovely Kristi Dosh says revenue sharing might be how the NBA solves its labor problems.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser says two MLB.com writers were robbed outside the Great American Ball Park after a Cincinnati Reds game.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell writes that Mike Tyson’s autograph is a hotter commodity now than it was when he was in his boxing prime.

Jeré Longman of the New York Times says despite increased attendance and TV ratings for Women’s Professional Soccer since the Women’s World Cup, the league’s future is very much in doubt.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union has the Syracuse football schedule and the networks airing the games.

Ken McMillan in the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record notes that Red Sox fans in the Catskill Mountains have a radio station to listen to their favorite team.

Keith Groller of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call writes NASCAR drama is truly reality TV.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic is expanding its relationship with the Baltimore Ravens. This comes a year after the Ravens severed its relationship with MASN just before last season.

Dan discovers that two DC-area natives co-anchored ESPN’s SportsCenter last weekend.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner also writes about CSN Mid-Atlantic taking in more Ravens programming.

Mel Bracht at the Daily Oklahoman looks at the local ratings for sports.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says four Brewers originally not scheduled for air will be picked up for TV.

The Cleveland Frowns blog wonders why CBS Radio is bringing in an outsider to be part of its daily lineup for its new FM sports radio station.

Bob writes that a local TV station is teaming up with the local ESPN Radio affiliate to produce a weekly show.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business reports that Tiger Woods has lost another sponsor and Ed also wants Tiger’s former caddie to shut up.

David Zahniser of the Los Angeles Times writes that a deal to build an NFL stadium at the Staples Center site received unanimous approval on Tuesday.

Times NFL writer Sam Farmer talks about what the deal approval means.

The Canadian Sports Media blog has some thoughts on what’s been happening in the Great White North.

CSMB notes that TSN is no longer airing the UEFA Champions League.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog wonders if anyone would buy Rogers’ attempt at a sports magazine in this day and age.

Sports Media Watch says Yankees-Red Sox had ratings drawing power during this past weekend.

And SMW notes that three of MLB’s TV partners saw ratings gains for Yanks-Red Sox.

Brian Packey at Awful Announcing refuses to call the hair on top of Bill Simmons’ lip that was seen on ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, a porn mustache. Brian may not, but I will. That thing is hideous.

Dave Kohl at his renamed “Broadcast Booth” blog looks at sports radio ratings for various markets.

Ok, that’s going to do it. I found more links than I thought I would and it’s approach 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. I need sleep. Back later today.

Back With Monday Links

This past weekend was spent preparing for my sister’s baby shower and then grilling for those in attendance so I was very busy after posting last Friday’s megalinks. My apologies for not being able to blog as I wanted this past weekend, but I do appreciate your patience. Let’s get to the linkage as we have quite a few stories to provide today.

First, USA Today’s Michael Hiestand reports that Fox Sports will unveil their NFL announcing lineup today with a few revamps and reboots, but nothing new in their top three teams.

John Ourand at Sports Business Journal notes that talks with potential suitors are heating up on the new Thursday Night Football package.

Dan Rafael of ESPN.com writes that boxer Manny Pacquaio’s next fight will be heading back to HBO after a one bout hiatus to Showtime.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek notes that while the NFL lockout was ongoing, advertisers still continued to buy commercials on the networks showing their confidence that there would be a season.

Over to Kristi Dosh, the SportsBizMiss, in the Business of College Sports who looks at ESPN’s contract for the Longhorn Network.

Dan Fogarty of SportGrid notes that Stephen A. “A is for Anguish” Smith increased his vocal volume over Tiger Woods’ former caddie, Steve Williams jumping for joy over helping Adam Scott win over the weekend.

Timothy Burke at SportsGrid has video of yesterday’s NASCAR Countdown pre-race show which was a complete mess.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell feels college football coaches who ban their team from tweeting are missing the point.

Jim Romanesko at the Poynter Institute has former Los Angeles Times NBA beat writer Mark Heisler writing about how he was laid off from the paper and how he was not too unhappy about it.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser notes that ESPN saw its best overnight ratings of the season for Sunday Night Baseball thanks to another Yankees-Red Sox matchup.

Richard Lawler at Engadget says ESPN 3D is doubling its college football schedule from last year.

The Radio & TV Business Report has Westwood One Radio’s NFL announcing crews for this season.

Brian Straight of the Hartford Business Journal writes about the long-standing relationship between ESPN and Bristol, CT.

Joe Brescia from the New York Times speaks with new NFL Hall of Famer and NFL Network analyst Marshall Faulk.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick is not a fan of YES’ Michael Kay.

Phil wants TNT to spill the beans on the Tiger Woods-Charles Barkley split. Like that will ever happen and who really cares?

The New York Daily News’ Gatecrasher tells us that Lifetime (a.k.a. The Network That Hates Men) has pulled the plug on a Serena Williams reality TV project.

Ken Schott from the Schenectady Gazette has the transcript and video of caddie Steve Williams’ interview with CBS’ David Feherty following Adam Scott’s win in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Jim Williams at the Washington Examiner looks at CBS/Showtime’s new reality show on the Army-Navy rivalry.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times feels ESPN’s Merril Hoge may have an agenda against Denver quarterback Tim Tebow.

Stephen F. Holder and Rick Stroud of the Times write that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may fall victim to more local blackouts this season.

Ed Sherman from Crain’s Chicago Business wishes the Bears would take care of their turf.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post talks with Colorado Rockies analyst George Frazier.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has this week’s sports calendar.

Tom reviews the incendiary comments Fox Sports Radio’s Tony Bruno made on his Twitter account Friday night as the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies had a full-scale brawl.

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle has Giants manager Bruce Bochy irate over Bruno’s tweet.

Bruce Dowbiggin in the Toronto Globe and Mail looks at the Canadian sports media battle between giants Rogers and Bell.

Raju Mudhar from the Toronto Star previews Rogers’ entry into the sports magazine market.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says the NFL pregame shows are inundated with Hall of Famers.

Sports Media Watch has some ratings news and notes.

And SMW has more ratings news here.

Joe Favorito has a primer on keeping notes and how they could save you in the long run.

And that is all for today.

Golf Channel Covers Tiger Woods’ Return to the PGA Tour

This week, Golf Channel will have live four round coverage of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational from the Firestone Country Club in Akron, OH. This week’s coverage signifies the return of Tiger Woods to the PGA Tour after he took time off for his knee injury. In this tournament, he guaranteed to play in all four rounds. Golf Channel will have 1st and 2nd round coverage which I’m sure Tiger will be showcased quite heavily. And during the weekends, Golf Channel will have preliminary 3rd and final round coverage at 1 p.m. ET before giving way to CBS at 3 p.m. ET. Terry Gannon and Sir Nick Faldo will anchor at the 18th hole.

GOLF CHANNEL COVERAGE OF THE WGC-BRIDGESTONE INVITATIONAL MARKS TIGER WOODS’ RETURN TO PGA TOUR

Four Rounds of Live Coverage Thursday-Sunday
Woods and McIlroy Press Conferences Live Tuesday and Wednesday

WGC- Bridgestone Invitational
Dates: August 4-7
Venue:South Course, Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio

Airtimes:
Thursday 2-6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (Replay)
Friday 2-6 p.m. (Live) / 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (Replay)
Saturday Noon-1:30 p.m. (Live) / 9-11:30 p.m. (CBS Replay)
Sunday Noon-1:30 p.m. (Live) / 9-11:30 p.m. (CBS Replay)

Press Conference Shows:
Tuesday (Morning Drive) 10-11 a.m. ET (Tiger Woods)
Wednesday (Golf Central Special) 1-1:30 p.m. ET (Rory McIlroy)

Golf Channel Tournament Broadcast Team:
Terry Gannon (Play by Play)
Nick Faldo (Analyst)
Peter Oosterhuis (Tower)
Peter Kostis (On Course)
Billy Ray Brown (On Course)
Steve Sands (Interviews)

Broadcast Notes:

• Live Press Conferences Tuesday and Wednesday: Woods and McIlroy – Tuesday at 10 a.m. ET, Golf Channel will carry Tiger Woods’ press conference live from Firestone Country Club. The news conference will be a part of a special edition of Morning Drive, airing from 10-11 a.m. ET. Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, Golf Channel will air U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy’s news conference live as a Golf Central Special.
• Wraparound Coverage on Golf Central and Golf Central Pre Game – Golf Central and Golf Central Pre Game will provide comprehensive news coverage of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational with highlights, interviews and analysis. Golf Central Pre Game will air Thursday-Sunday at 1:30p.m. ET with additional shows Saturday and Sunday at 11:30 a.m. ET. Golf Central airs Monday-Sunday at 6 p.m. ET.

There you have it.

Trying To Do A Friday Megalink Session

I’m hoping to get this entire Megalink session finished in one sitting. It’s been a crazy day thus far. Of course, all of your weekend sport and entertainment programming are featured in the Weekend Viewing Picks.

Let’s get to the linkage now.

National

Michael Hiestand of USA Today speaks with noted baseball announcing author Curt Smith who has written another book about the subject.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy has ESPN’s Desmond Howard criticizing the current college athletics system which does not allow for students to get paid.

Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about the details of the conference’s new TV networks.

Mike Barnes of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Golf Channel and CBS will have the honors of airing Tiger Woods’ return to golf next weekend.

Michael Malone at Broadcasting & Cable criticizes WPRI-TV in Providence for recreating golf highlights and passing it off as it actually happened.

Thomas Umstead from Multichannel News says boxing is still a big part of HBO Sports.

Todd Spangler at Multichannel says ESPN will redesign its live streaming site for Xbox 360 users.

Timothy Burke of SportsGrid has the video of Dan Patrick joining old SportsCenter partner Keith Olbermann on Current’s Countdown program to talk about casting the potential ESPN Movie.

Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser notes that ESPN’s John Clayton still hasn’t grasped this Twitter thing yet.

Cam Martin of SportsNewser writes that Rory McIlroy called out a BBC golf commentator and had quite the Twitter battle.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Knicks and Rangers fans will have the opportunity to see their team’s players go from the court/ice to the locker room and vice versa.

The Big Lead speaks with actor Dan Lauria about bringing his Broadway role of coach Vince Lombardi “home” to Green Bay this weekend.

Sports Media Watch says viewership declined for the last week of Copa América on Univision as glamor teams Brazil and Argentina lost before the semifinal round.

SMW notes that the ratings jumped for the WNBA All-Star Game on ABC last weekend.

Joe Favorito says Baseball’s governing body is now using social media to its advantage.

Bob’s Blitz has an interesting story of a former cameraman and ESPN director who got a lucky cell phone and has been living the life of a celebrity.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing notes that the Pac-12 Networks will further fragment sports on cable.

Overseas, this is big news. John Plunkett of the London Guardian says BBC Sport is letting go of most of its Formula 1 contract and satellite provider Sky Sports will pick up a lion’s share of races starting next year. That would be as if Fox decided to allow DirecTV to take over most of the NASCAR contract.

Ben Gallop of BBC’s motorsports division explains why the decision was made.

East & Mid-Atlantic

Chad Finn of the Boston Globe feels melancholy over the loss of HBO’s Hard Knocks, a victim of the NFL lockout this season.

At SB Nation, Kat Hasenauer Cornetta says women are still trying to get a foothold in the Boston sports media.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Derek Jeter finally opened up a bit in the HBO documentary that premiered this week.

At the New York Post, Phil Mushnick warns to be careful what you wish for in wanting replay review in baseball.

Mike Battaglino of the Post notes that there will be no edition of Hard Knocks this season.

Justin Terranova writes that the NFL TV’s partners were never worried about losing games to the lockout.

A couple of more stories from the Post. Tim Bontemps from the Post says Derek Jeter agreed to do the HBO documentary on his quest for 3,000 hits so his future children could see him at work.

Justin has five questions for the producer of the HBO Jeter documentary.

Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union writes that the premiere of NBC’s Summer at Saratoga series did quite well.

On Thursday, Pete, the lovely Rachel Cohen of the Associated Press and your humble blogger were invited to ESPN to talk to several of the network’s production staff and then interview Norby Williamson, the network’s Vice President of Studio and Event Production. Pete has a story on that visit.

Pete Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News writes about the contentious relationship between NFL Network and NFL Films.

To the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog and Dan Steinberg who notes that local talk show host John Riggins isn’t optimistic about DC NFL team coach Mike Shanahan’s chances this year.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner says MLB Network will be all over the Trading Deadline this weekend.

South

Jared Hunt from the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail profiles CBS golf producer Lance Barrow as he helms the network’s broadcasts of the Greenbrier Classic this weekend.

Cindy Watts of The Tennessean talks about country star Kenny Chesney writing and performing the theme song for a new ESPN series.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says NFL Films founder Ed Sabol is deservedly getting the NFL Films treatment in a new documentary celebrating his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

David talks about the lack of a Hard Knocks series this season.

Rick Cantu and Kirk Bohis of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman says ESPN approached several high schools about putting their games on the Longhorn Network.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman talks with ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit about the upcoming season.

Mel finds the real reason why Herbstreit chose to move his family away from his native Columbus, OH to Tennessee.

Midwest

Michael Zuidema from the Grand Rapids (MI) Press talks with former NFL’er and current TV analyst Ray Bentley about the 1987 NFL strike.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel finds some interesting Brewers anecdotes in the new Curt Smith book.

Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune interviews ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit.

Over to the Rochester (MN) Post-Bulletin where Paul Christian notes that ex-Minnesota Golden Gopher coaches keep finding their way to television.

West

Brian T. Smith of the Salt Lake Tribune says former Utah Jazz player Matt Harpring has made the successful transition to the TV booth.

John Maffei of the North County Times understands why Mexican government ads must be played on a local sports radio station, but it doesn’t mean he has to like them.

Tom Hoffarth at the Los Angeles Daily News looks at the new batch of ESPN Films documentaries that will be released later this year.

Tom has Fox Sports/MLB Network insider Ken Rosenthal still being wary of Twitter.

Tom talks with Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott about his whirlwind tenure that has left the league with a pocketful of riches.

Tom has more on the Pac-12 Network announcement aftermath.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin at the Toronto Globe and Mail says the father of new Blue Jay Colby Ramus is using the local media to blast St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa.

And that will do it for today.

Tiger Woods To Make “Special Anouncement” on Golf Channel Monday

I did not receive a press release on this, but did see on Twitter various posts on the fact that Tiger Woods will appear Monday on Golf Channel with Kelly Tilghman to announce something. What that is exactly has come under plenty of scrutiny. Ryan Ballengee of Pro Golf Talk has his speculation.

Shane Bacon at Yahoo’s Devil Ball blog would like to know what Tiger is up to.

Golf.com thinks it may have to do with a Canadian doctor who pleaded guilty on drug smuggling charges to whom Tiger has been linked.

Tiger’s fireside chat interview or statement or whatever this is will air at 11 a.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Unveiling The Thursday Links

Been a busy day at work once again. Doing these late and I’ll try to put forth as many links as I can before being told to leave the office.

Sports Business Daily takes a look at the one year anniversary of the infamous “The Decision” that made LeBron James a pariah in Cleveland and most of the country.

Patrick Kemp at the Buffalo News reports that ESPN NHL analyst Matthew Barnaby will perform 500 hours of community service as he was sentenced Wednesday for a domestic disturbance case involving his estranged wife and her boyfriend. I asked ESPN for a statement on this matter and received this response: “Now that its (sic) gotten to the point in the process, we need to regroup and have follow up conversations.” This means that ESPN is evaluating Barnaby’s employment for the upcoming NHL season.

At The Sweet Science, boxing writer Thomas Hauser remembers fellow colleague and former Boston Herald columnist George Kimball who has passed at the age of 69.

Michael Woods of The Sweet Science also pauses to reflect on Kimball.

Another former Kimball colleague, Michael Gee gives his thoughts on his friend’s passing in the Boston Herald.

Lesley Goldberg of the Hollywood Reporter has a preview of Showtime’s MLB reality show, “The Franchise” focusing on the San Francisco Giants.

Tim Baysinger at Broadcasting & Cable looks at CBS’ Jim Nantz getting an award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times says ESPN winning the Wimbledon media rights is just a small part of a big battle between ESPN/Disney and Comcast/NBC.

Sheldon Spencer at ESPN Front Row talks with original ESPN’er Bob Ley on who he follows on Twitter. I’m honored to be one of those to be followed by Mr. Ley.

Last night, comedian Artie Lange made his first radio appearance since his suicide attempt and subsequent departure from the Howard Stern Show. Dylan P. Gadino of Punchline live blogged the guest spot Artie did with fellow comic Nick DiPaolo on Fox Sports Radio. Reading Gadino’s writing, it’s apparent he is not a sports fan.

Fox Sports Radio host Ben Maller writing in Yahoo’s The Post Game chronicles how he lost 200 pounds.

Dan Fogarty has audio of ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd blaming Canada for its health care system and insinuating Tiger Woods takes steroids.

CTV has finally relaunched its Olympics site for the 2012 London Games.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell marvels at how 2018 Olympics host Pyeongchang, Sout Korea is already halfway finished in building venues and it was just awarded the Games on Wednesday.

Marc Berman at the New York Post writes that Spero Dedes’ deal to become the radio voice could be in limbo stemming from his DWI arrest over the weekend.

Newsday’s Neil Best says ticket prices remain high for upcoming Yankees games as fans try to see the contest where Derek Jeter gets his 3,000th career hit.

From the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg notes that a Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic anchor gave a tongue-in-cheek motivational speech to interns.

Writer John Feinstein explains why he quit doing Navy football radio broadcasts effective immediately.

Gary Dinges of the Austin American-Statesman says the ESPN-owned Longhorn Network has chosen the site for its studios and named three of its on-air staffers.

Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Bengals writes that former radio voice Brad Johansen will call the team’s preseason games on TV starting this season, provided there is a preseason.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says the Pro Football Hall of Fame is ready to say hello to CBS’ Jim Nantz.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News feels the Pro Football Hall of Fame redeemed itself with Jim Nantz after selecting Chris Berman as its TV-Radio Award recipient last year.

Tom transcribes what Colin Cowherd said about the Dodgers today.

The Toronto Sports Media Blog notes that former CBC Hockey Night in Canada Radio host Jeff Marek has officially joined Rogers Sportsnet.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog writes about Jeff Marek’s role with Sportsnet.

Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that TSN has picked up the Canadian rights to Wimbledon starting next year.

And Canadian Sports Media tells us that TSN’s arrangement to air The Championships, Wimbledon is similar to ESPN’s.

Barry Pachesky of Deadspin says ESPN’s deal with Wimbledon is the future of sports television.

Deadspin’s Brian Hickey notes that Versus had a big, blue phallic symbol creep into its Tour de France coverage.

SportsbyBrooks has word on some college football network TV on-air hires.

Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes here and here.

SMW notes that the ratings for last weekend’s NASCAR Daytona 400 on TNT fell from last year.

EPL Talk notices that FIFA is considering to break up the 2022 World Cup in Qatar into three 30-minute periods due to the oppressive heat and humidity.

The latest Awful Announcing podcast has the great Darren Rovell of CNBC.

That’s going to do it for today.

Getting The Wednesday Linkage In

Let’s do the Wednesday links while I can. It’s going to get busy the next couple of days as I try to wrap things up for the 4th of July weekend so blogging may get sparse through the weekend. Just giving you a heads up.

Here are the links for this Wednesday.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says ESPN is going all out for the Women’s World Cup whether we like it or not.

Karolos Grohmann of Reuters reports that General Electric has pledged to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2020 as part of the deal that kept the US media rights with NBC.

Lindsay Powers of the Hollywood Reporter writes that Tiger Woods has signed his first endorsement deal since his marital troubles began in November 2009.

John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable says the NFL wants Congress to leave the silly TV blackout rules in place.

Tim Baysinger of B&C notes that Fox Soccer received its highest audience ever for last Saturday’s Gold Cup Final between the US and Mexico.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News notes the improved ratings for TNT halfway through its NASCAR season.

Mike also recaps the ESPN/espnW Women’s World Cup viewing party in New York’s Times Square on Tuesday.

Mike discusses NBC Sports Group providing full coverage of the Tour de France.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says the NBA playoffs steered TNT to a cable ratings win in the 2nd quarter of this year.

Tim Nudd of Adweek really likes DirecTV’s Football Cops ad starring Peyton and Eli Manning.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Dave Kindred provides a lesson on just who Grantland Rice was and why he’s so revered.

Robert Niles of the Online Journalism Review at USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism looks at the limits of free speech citing ESPN’s Jemele Hill defending David Tyree’s anti-gay marriage stance.

SportsGrid has video of Charles Barkley visiting the Sportsnet One booth during last night’s Pittsburgh-Toronto game.

SportsGrid’s Glenn Davis wonders if ESPN’s Robert Flores was caught napping on the job today.

SportsNewser’s Cam Martin writes that video game producer EA Sports plans to build a new studio in Texas.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell speaks with Nike’s CEO and President Charlie Denson on a myriad of sports business topics.

SportsbyBrooks is reporting that former Indiana and Texas A&M coach Bob Knight is preventing ESPN from hiring former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as an analyst. I didn’t know coach Knight wielded that much power.

Andrew Gauthier of TV Spy notes the return of Len Berman to the Today Show this morning. And no one got hurt!

The lovely Kristi Dosh of the Business of College Sports explains how she got into the sports blogging business.

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times reviews USA Network’s new football-based series.

Newsday’s Neil Best says Derek Jeter haters will like one new internet product that allows them to ignore the Yankees shortstop.

Ken Schott at the Schenectady Gazette says tonight’s Red Sox-Phillies game originally scheduled for ESPN2 will now be seen on the ESPN mothership.

Ken says New York’s Capital Region will be blacked out on July 8 when Bob Costas and Al Michaels team up to call their first baseball game ever.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union writes that NBC golf reporter Dottie Pepper reaches out to the community when she’s back home.

Evan Weiner in the New Jersey Newsroom says handouts to sports owners are not a good thing.

John George of the Philadelphia Business Journal says MLB Network’s Mitch Williams will be seen on a DIY Network show.

Dan Steinberg from the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog recaps a visit from consumer advocate Ralph Nader to the WaPo offices to discuss sports coverage and a new venture he’s helping to organize.

Graham Cawthorn of the Shelby (NC) Star looks at ESPN wanting to stream the American Legion World Series.

Danny Aller of the Albany (GA) Herald says Braves fans will finally be able to watch Peachtree TV games through the Fox Sports South affiliate.

Joel Hammond of Crain’s Cleveland Business says the Browns will launch a nightly radio show on the market’s dominant sports radio station.

Steve Brandt of the Minneapolis Star Tribune says local officials are denying that there’s a potential bid for the 2020 Olympics in the works.

The Syracuse (NE) Journal-Democrat reports that ESPN3 will stream all games of the American Legion World Series under a new four year contract.

Andrew Blankstein of the Los Angeles Times says former Chicago Sun-Times writer Jay Mariotti must stand trial on stalking and assault charges.

The Elk Grove (CA) Citizen notes that a local high school rejected ESPN’s request to air a football game this season.

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail talks about HBO hitting the ice once again next season.

Sports Media Watch says NASCAR on TNT’s ratings were up again this past weekend.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says viewership for the NHL Draft was up from last year.

The Big Lead wonders if NASCAR fired an in-house blogger for mentioning Kyle Busch’s marital problems.

That’s all for now.

Time For The Monday Linkage

After being in the Massachusetts office this morning and needing to run a few errands for the main RI office, I’m now ready to provide links provided I don’t get interrupted at work. You never know. And with the decision to eventually close the MA office due to the slow economy, I may be looking for work so if any blogging networks want to bring on a sports media blogger full-time, please contact me. I’m available any time.

Let’s get to your links.

We start with USA Today’s Michael Hiestand who looks at the Olympic bidding that began today.

Stephen Wilson of the Associated Press reports from Switzerland where the US networks are meeting with the International Olympic Committee, that in its bid, Fox has committed to airing four Olympiads (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020).

Sports Business Daily including reporter Tripp Mickle who’s on the ground in Switzerland looks at the Fox presentation to the IOC today.

While many observers are already handing the Olympics to ESPN or Fox, John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal writes that new NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus isn’t coming into these Olympic negotiations cold and raw.

Tripp and John have a podcast at Sports Business Journal in which they predict the winner of the Olympic bidding. Their picks might surprise you.

Funny article from Spencer Hall at SB Nation saying it would be bad if Fox got the Olympics.

Georg Szalai of the Hollywood Reporter also looks at the Fox bid.

Over at Geneva Lunch in Switzerland (I believe this is the first time I’ve linked to a publication from Switzerland), Ellen Wallace looks at Lausanne hosting three American networks for the Olympic Games bidding.

Lawrence Donegan of the London (UK) Guardian says there could be a changing of the guard for the US rights to the Olympics.

Anthony Crupi at Adweek notes that ESPN could very well come out on top of the Olympic bidding when all is said and done.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times handicaps the Olympic bidding.

To non-Olympic bidding stories now.

John Ourand at SBJ wonders how high is too high for sports rights fees.

Kudos to SportsbyBrooks which continues to investigate Mel Kiper Jr.’s relationship with NCAA-scrutinized 7-on-7 summer football camps and why ESPN has been covering it up.

Dwayne Dunham at Technorati speaks with The Big Lead’s Jason McIntyre about his blog. Disclaimer: Fang’s Bites is a member of The Big Lead Sports blogging network.

Jason Fry writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center looks at the writing for free-writing for pay debate.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says it’s not a surprise that Tiger Woods has left agency IMG after his own agent left the company.

Newsday’s Neil Best notes that hoops beat the Yankees and Mets head-to-head on two separate occasions.

Neil talks with ESPN Radio New York’s Michael Kay about his YES workload.

Neil says it’s time to go live around the clock with the Olympics.

Neil also reviews the Borg vs. McEnroe HBO documentary.

It’s like the old days when I used to have multiple links to Neil!

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post gives Shaquille O’Neal a backhanded compliment.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times enjoys Mike Milbury’s commentary.

David Barron at the Houston Chronicle has a few thoughts on this week’s sports media news.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business wants the Big Ten Football Championship to be played out of doors.

Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post reviews HBO’s McEnroe/Borg documentary. I’ve seen the first half of the doc and it’s very good.

Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Review-Journal notes the death of former Sporting News Radio host “Papa Joe” Chevalier. A couple of readers wondered why I didn’t do anything on him. First, I didn’t know he died and second, Sporting News Radio didn’t have an affiliate in Rhode Island so I never got the opportunity to hear him. From the story, he sounded like a good host. Never had the chance to listen.

I’m leaving the office now so I’ll have to end the links right here. I’ll be back later to finish up.

UPDATE, 6:10 p.m.: Time for more links.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News has the sports calendar for this week.

Tom notes that Marv Albert is the latest addition to the NFL on CBS roster.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says we must pay attention to Captain Blowhard. I say no!

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail says HBO won’t be putting a Canadian NHL team on 24/7 in anticipation of the Winter Classic.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog is surprised that CBC did not set a ratings record on Saturday for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final.

Sports Media Watch notes that NBC saw over a decade ratings high for the French Open men’s final.

Ben Koo at Awful Announcing can’t believe that Fox is in even in the discussion to get the Olympics.

Dan Fogarty of SportsGrid has Charles Barkley feeling someone at ESPN or TNT would lose his job if Shaquille O’Neal is brought on board.

That’s all.

The Friday Megalinks Are Here! Hurray!

Time for some megalink action. This is turning out to be a busy day, but let me try to give you as many as I can. This being Memorial Day weekend, there’s plenty of sports action. Primetime viewing is kind of slim, but you can check out my Weekend Viewing Picks for the action.

Let’s get to the links. I’ll do as many as I can. I do have to leave early.

National

From yesterday’s Sports Business Daily, John Ourand speaks with outgoing NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer who is retiring at the end of the summer.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News and Broadcasting & Cable also writes about Ken Schanzer’s retirement from NBC Sports.

Multichannel notes that Time Warner Cable will have a presence to promote the Speed 2 channel at the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race in Charlotte this weekend.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy and Michael Hiestand debate whether LeBron James as a villain is good for the NBA.

Mike McCarthy writes that former Chicago Bull Scottie Pippen caused an uproar on ESPN Radio this morning by saying LeBron James could be better than Michael Jordan.

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center delves into the ESPN book.

Fox Sports notes that this week, Ken Rosenthal’s bowtie will honor our troops during this Memorial Day Weekend.

The Big Lead interviews New York Times NFL beat writer Judy Battista and talks about how she covers the lockout.

Dan Fogarty at SportsGrid notes that Nike tried to put the screws on TNT’s Charles Barkley to be nicer to LeBron James.

SportsbyBrooks says ESPN management told its hosts what to ask James Andrew Miller about the book he co-authored on the Alleged Worldwide Leader.

Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing has a review of “Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN”.

Alyson Shontell of the Business Insider Sports Page says former Versus host Jenn Sterger is now working for an internet TV startup company.

Sports Media Watch says the NHL on Versus saw a ratings high for Boston-Tampa Bay on Wednesday.

SMW notes that the NBA Finals gets its earliest start in 25 years.

And SMW says the NHL Stanley Cup Final avoided conflicting with the NBA Finals.

Dave Kohl at Major League Programs has some complaints on broadcasters not providing the starting lineups when they’re supposed to.

Len Berman has his Top 5 stories of the day.

East and Mid-Atlantic

Mark Blaudshun of the Boston Globe reports that the Big East Conference has rejected ESPN’s “Best offer” to continue their 32 year relationship.

Chad Finn of the Globe says Bruins fans are finally getting the media coverage they’ve been yearning for.

Bill Doyle of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette notes that the local minor league baseball team gets a new media distribution to fans and it’s not what you might think.

Fred Contrada at the Springfield (MA) Republican reports that ESPN.com writer Howard Bryant has been sentenced to probation stemming from a domestic assault case back in February.

New York Magazine talks with YES analyst David Cone about his use of advanced statistics on Yankees games.

Phil Mushnick from the New York Post wants to know what Mets owner Fred Wilpon knew about Ponzi scheme scumbag Bernie Madoff and when did he know it.

The Post has five questions for Fox Soccer Channel analyst Eric Wynalda about Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says soccer continues to try to gain a foothold in the American psyche.

DCRTV’s Dave Hughes has his latest Baltimore-DC media roundup in Press Box.

In the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg finds an interesting Tony Kornheiser-John Feinstein tidbit from the ESPN tome.

Dan also recaps a couple of interviews DC NFL team owner Daniel Snyder conducted on Thursday.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks about the retirement of NBC Sports President Ken Schanzer a week after his boss, Dick Ebersol resigned.

Jim speaks with Fox Sports’ Curt Menefee about hosting the UEFA Champions League Final on Saturday.

South

The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson goes over some of the more interesting tidbits from the ESPN book.

Greg Augman of the St. Petersburg Times writes about ESPN’s Desmond Howard blasting black college athletes for a sense of entitlement.

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel laments the probable end of the long-term relationship between Florida State University and Sun Sports.

Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram says Texas Rangers TV voice John Rhadigan was replaced Thursday and will return to hosting the pregame show on Fox Sports Southwest.

David Barron from the Houston Chronicle has his take on the ESPN book that has had the sports media talking.

In the Daily Oklahoman, Mel Bracht talks with ousted Rangers voice John Rhadigan.

Mel notes the local ratings for the series-clinching Game 5 of the NBA Western Conference Finals.

Mel despite losing the series, the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook impressed ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy.

Midwest

Cincinnati Enquirer media writer John Kiesewetter says local sports talk show host Andy Furman is on the fast track for a possible new national gig.

John has a few more things on Furman in his blog.

The Waiting For Next Year blog loves Cleveland Browns voice Jim Donovan as do I.

Michael Zuidema at the Grand Rapids (MI) Press says ESPN/ABC is hoping some extra pomp and circumstance at the Centennial Indy 500 will draw viewers this year.

Bob Wolfley at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the Indianapolis 500 just ain’t what it used to be.

Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business has his usual winners and losers today.

Ed explains what Tiger Woods’ agent split from powerful IMG means for Tiger.

Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that ESPN/ABC is hopeful that the Indy 500 can finally beat NASCAR outright for the first time in over five years.

West

Jim Carlisle in the Ventura County Star talks with ESPN/ABC IndyCar analyst Scott Goodyear about Danica Patrick’s impact on this year’s Indy 500.

Jim reflects on Dick Ebersol’s tenure as Chairman of NBC Sports.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News says Jim Rome’s hiring in inaugural days of ESPN2 almost caused one network exec to quit.

Tom explains how ESPN/ABC will attempt to keep the Indianapolis 500 relevant with viewers.

Canada

Bruce Dowbiggin of the Toronto Globe and Mail looks at how Gary Bettman decided to buck ESPN.

That’s going to do it. Finished it all in one shot!

Golf Channel To Air Tiger Woods Press Conference on Tuesday

Tiger Woods will take part in media day as part of the duties for hosting his own tournament in Pennsylvania. Golf Channel will pick up his press conference on Tuesday and air it in its entirety.

Golf Channel to Air Tiger Woods’ AT&T National News Conference, Tuesday at 11 a.m. ET

ORLANDO, Fla., (May 23, 2011) – Golf Channel Tuesday will air live Tiger Woods’ news conference from Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, Penn.  Coverage will begin at 11 a.m. ET and will continue until the conference concludes.  The news conference is a part of media day for the 2011 AT&T National, a PGA TOUR event benefiting the Tiger Woods Foundation.

Kelly Tilghman will anchor coverage, and will be joined by GolfChannel.com senior writer Jason Sobel from the network’s Orlando studios.

That does it.

Going For Some Wednesday Linkage

Let’s do your links today. Trying to get them done earlier than the last two days. Good stuff to get to today. And I still finish them at 3 p.m.

Tripp Mickle and John Ourand report in today’s Sports Business Daily that the International Olympic Committee will conduct the bidding for the US TV rights for the 2014 & 2016 Games in the first week of June. Needless to say, Fang’s Bites will be watching.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today says the NFL will take a huge hit if the lockout is not resolved by the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

At Pro Football Talk, Michael David Smith says Mark Ingram Sr.’s lawyer is defending ESPN’s Suzy Kolber for her manipulative interview with Mark Ingram, Jr. at the NFL Draft last week.

David Ubben from ESPN.com says the Big 12 and Pac 12 media rights deals do not compare.

Diamond Leung of ESPN.com writes that the new Pac-12 contract is a win-win for basketball.

Patrick Rishe from Forbes says Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has to be given credit for squeezing lemonade from lemons.

Sofia M. Fernandez from the Hollywood Reporter looks at the new Pac 12 deal with ESPN and Fox.

Jon Lafayette of Broadcasting & Cable notes that with lower expenses due to the sharing of the NCAA Tournament with Turner, CBS had higher profits in the 1st quarter of this year.

Tim Baysinger from B&C writes about Michele Tafoya joining NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News talks about ESPN’s ratings for the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

Toni Fitzgerald in Media Life says there are several factors in the sharp decline in ESPN’s ratings and viewership for the NFL Draft.

In Advertising Age, Brian Steinberg says despite the NFL lockout, the networks have begun to sell advertising for football, both college and pro.

At SportsNewser, Alex Weprin tells us that the producers of the Broadway play, “Lombardi” are bringing down the curtain for the final time later this month.

The Huffington Post notes that Good Morning America introduced former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Josh Elliot to viewers on Wednesday. Elliot’s first day at GMA was Monday.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell notes that a LeBron James-endorsed energy strip is looking to pick up where energy drinks have left off.

At Pro Golf Talk, Ryan Ballengee discusses an interview Tiger Woods conducted with Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic about the injury he suffered at The Masters^®.

Carolyn Branff of Sports Video Group delves into the Pac-12 media deals.

Newsday’s Neil Best says “Lombardi” had one hellova Broadway run.

Ken Schott of the Schenectady Gazette talks about Michele Tafoya joining NBC’s Sunday Night Football.

Barry Horn at the Dallas Morning News notes that for the Dallas-Los Angeles Lakers series opener, SoCal beat the Metroplex in the ratings.

John Maher of the Austin (TX) American-Statesman reports that the University of Texas will have final say including any firing of announcers from the ESPN-owned Longhorn Network. There’s a great way to leave your integrity at the door.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says Bucks guard Chris Douglas-Roberts got some unwanted attention for tweeting about Osama bin Laden’s death.

Bob writes about Michele Tafoya joining Sunday Night Football.

Teddy Greenstein of the Chicago Tribune talks with TNT’s Dick Stockton about the Bulls’ tepid start on Monday.

John Henderson of the Denver Post says the University of Colorado will get huge financial revenue from the new Pac-12 media rights contracts.

Mike Gorrell of the Salt Lake Tribune says the new Pac-12 deals with ESPN, Fox and Pac-12 Media Enterprises will give Utah fans plenty of inventory to watch.

Lya Wodraska from the Tribune writes that a conference-owned network will give Pac-12 schools some flexibility and exposure.

Patrick Finley of the Arizona Daily Star talks with the athletic director of Arizona State to get her reaction to the Pac-12 deal.

Diane Pucin of the Los Angeles Times says the Pac-12 hit the motherlode of contracts.

Tom Hoffarth in the Los Angeles Daily News says just before it became fruition, the Pac-12 has already given itself a rich history.

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News writes that the new Pac-12 deals mean every football and basketball game will be televised.

Rachel Bachman of The Oregonian explains what the Pac-12 deal means for both Oregon and Oregon State.

George Schroeder of the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard notes that Oregon will no longer have to worry about paying for the athletic budget.

Bud Withers of the Seattle Times says the new Pac-12 shows that the conference can no longer be considered a college sports doormat.

In the Toronto Globe and Mail, Bruce Dowbiggin wonders why CBC’s Glenn Healy isn’t a fan of Vancouver’s Green Men who have become a YouTube sensation.

Sports Media Watch notes that the ratings for Game 2 of Celtics-Magic on TNT did not come close to ABC’s numbers on Sunday, but still did well.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says the double overtime Game 2 of Nashville-Vancouver did not do too well on Versus.

I think that will do it for us.

Doing The Saturday Linkage

I got up early this morning (not that you care) and it now enables me to do some links for you. Some good stuff out today.

First USA Today’s Mike McCarthy, we learn that Joe Theismann claims he has not been told about any changes to the NFL Network Thursday Night Football booth. Earlier this week, Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reported earlier this week that Mike Mayock is replacing Theismann and Matt Millen. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg at SportsNewser for the link.

Back to Marcus at SportsNewser, he tells us that the Los Angeles Times is explaining why it chose to print the homophobic slur Kobe Bryant used against a referee in an NBA game this week.

CNBC’s Brian Beers has three cities to where the Sacramento Kings should relocate and they don’t include Los Angeles.

Kathleen E. McLaughlin of Global Post says an economic summit in Communist China led officials to ban several TV channels including Golf Channel.

There’s a controversy brewing in Philadelphia over a she said/she said story that was originally posted in the Naked Philadelphian blog where Sarah Madson, the wife of Phillies pitcher Ryan Madson was quoted as saying she hates Phillies fans and they’re rude and she won’t live in the city in the offseason. Deadspin picked up the story and the story boomeranged from there.

But Kyle Scott from the Crossing Broad blog did some investigating and found that the writer of the post, Laura Goldman has a rather checkered past. While Mrs. Madson has not denied the quote, the Phillies issued a statement that Goldman never identified herself as a reporter, nor did she record the conversation with Madson. For her part, Goldman said she did identify herself not just once but several times.

Kyle has written a post for CBS Philadelphia on the whole matter and again, he questions Goldman’s credibility. The whole question on bloggers and ethics is coming up again. I’m not sure about Goldman’s actual credentials based on her rather shady past, but there is a standard to uphold on approaching a potential interviewee. If she did identify herself as a reporter, that’s one thing, but according to people who attended the event, there was no notebook or tape recorder and there is a claim that Goldman cornered Madson and would not let her go. This story is apparently not going away any time soon.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the NBA’s TV partners are looking forward to high ratings for the postseason.

Mike says Comcast SportsNet Chicago saw record ratings for the Bulls during the regular season.

Mike writes that the NHL on Versus saw increased viewership for the first night of the postseason.

Thomas Umstead of Multichannel writes that NBA.com is going to provide increased coverage for the NBA Playoffs.

Chris Tribbey of Home Media magazine says 3-D TV’s future depends on sports programming.

At SB Nation Boston, Bruce Allen of Boston Sports Media Watch takes a look at the Bruins and Celtics playoff TV coverage.

Richard Sandomir of the New York Times takes a look at MSG Network Knicks analyst Walt Frazier’s extensive wardrobe.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post reports that Bob Papa and Gus Johnson are “neck-and-neck” for the NFL Network Thursday Night Football gig.

The Gaston (NC) Gazette reports that the local Fox Sports Radio affiliate has picked up the rights to the Charlotte 49ers basketball and football broadcasts.

Chris Bahn of Arkansas Sports 360 notes that the University of Arkansas is reaping the benefits of ESPN choosing its spring football game to air today.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News writes that the Fox/Big 12 deal could look frugal down the road and Barry also talks with CBS’ Bill Macatee about his infamous Tiger Woods interview at The Masters last week.

Speaking of that interview, the Golf Channel’s Bradel Chamblee takes Tiger to task for being smug with Macatee.

Nathan Olivarez-Giles of the Los Angeles Times writes extensively on the success of NBA.com’s video streams and how it looks to make a mark in social media.

Nathaniel Popper of the Times reports on the Fed’s crackdown on three online poker websites on Friday.

Ben Koo of Awful Announcing says while ESPN reported on the FBI’s shutdown of the poker betting websites, it did not mention the money it took in from each site for advertising.

The Hawaii Reporter says the NBC Sports Group will be covering a rowing and canoeing event at the islands next month.

Sports Media Watch notes the NBA on TNT wrapped up its most viewed regular season.

SMW says the same goes for the NBA on ESPN.

SMW says ABC had its highest-rated and most viewed season for the NBA as well.

Joe Favorito says Vancouver has untapped potential for the NHL and MLS.

And we are now done for the day. If there’s any breaking news, I’ll be here to cover it.

Providing The Monday Links

Having already gone to a jobsite early this morning and having returned to the office already, I have some time to provide you with the Monday links. There’s a lot of stuff out there already so without further delay, here are your media links for today.

From USA Today, Michael Hiestand writes that CBS certainly benefited from a dramatically close final round of The Masters^®.

Mike McCarthy at USA Today has a short preview of tomorrow’s Good Morning America interview with former Versus “The Daily Line” co-host Jenn Sterger.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King has what is basically a throwaway line in his “Ten Things…” that NFL Network is thinking of bringing in its draft guru Mike Mayock into the Thursday Night Football booth. After enduring Joe Theismann and Matt Millen last season, the quicker this move is made, the better off fans will be.

And Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk expounds on the potential Mayock move to the booth.

PJ Bednarski of TV Newscheck reports that ABC affiliates are on board with helping to fund ESPN’s bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics.

Sports TV Jobs has an interview with ESPN’s Steve Berthiaume about how former President Jimmy Carter helped him get his big break.

Sports TV Jobs has a column from a former NFL Films intern explaining her work for the company last fall.

One of the most ridiculous stories coming out from The Masters last night was the barring of Bergen (NJ) columnist Tara Sullivan from the locker room after Charl Schwartzel’s win. She writes about the experience and says Augusta National Golf Club apologized to her afterwards admitting it was a mistake. I was ready to stop blogging about The Masters had Augusta officials not come forward immediately after she tweeted about the incident. It’s bad enough Augusta National has exclusionary policies towards women, but you can’t bar a female sportswriter from the locker room. And I can’t believe people still get angry over this issue.

At SportsGrid, Glenn Davis says Sullivan should come out of this ok.

Glenn also discusses the upcoming boring Jenn Sterger “woe is me” interview on Good Morning America.

At the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, Jason Fry takes a look at Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban’s idea to ban internet writers from the covering his team.

Wayne Friedman of MediaPost writes that if the NFL lockout goes long, expect the ad dollars for games to go to network primetime spending.

Steve Smith of MediaPost’s VidBlog focuses on ESPN’s new iPhone app that allows Time Warner, Bright House and Verizon FiOS subscribers to see what’s on ESPN, for the most part.

A sad day for the sports blogosphere. Free Darko has announced it will cease operation as of today. Great blog, talented writers. It will be missed.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says CBS followed Tiger Woods too much yesterday.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union talks about The Masters^® overall ratings which were down from last year, but still higher than normal.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record discusses the start of the NHL Playoffs and the network coverage.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog has your first look at Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin’s new Capital One ad.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that CBS’ overnight ratings for The Masters^® were the 2nd highest in 10 years.

Tom Jones from the St. Petersburg Times has his take on the weekend in sports television.

Kyle Veazey of the Jackson (MS) Clarion-Ledger has a fascinating look at the finances of the Southeastern Conference taking the CBS and ESPN contracts into account.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle shares his thoughts on CBS’ Masters broadcast.

At Crain’s Chicago Business, Ed Sherman talks with a Comcast SportsNet news director about the channel’s hyperlocal mission.

And Ed says April is a really busy month for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

Dusty Saunders from the Denver Post says Tiger Woods was a big part of CBS’ Masters coverage yesterday.

From the Los Angeles Daily News, Tom Hoffarth has your SoCal sports calendar for the week.

Raju Mudhar of the Toronto Star says video games bring out the inner athlete in us.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog says TSN will be going head-to-head with CBC during the NHL playoffs.

Sports Media Watch discusses the ratings for the final round of The Masters^®.

Awful Announcing has the first of a two part interview with the great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated.

Steve Lepore of Puck The Media is angry with MSG Network for putting the meaningless Knicks regular season finale on over the Rangers playoff game.

And we’re going to end it there. I have a couple of press releases to post.

Coming Back For Sunday Links

After not being able to bring you the Friday megalinks or even Saturday linkage, I have some time to provide the Sunday linkage. Some good stuff here and don’t forget to read my Sunday thoughts.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy breaks news that former co-host of Versus’ The Daily Line, Jenn Sterger will give her first interview on the Brett Favre scandal to Good Morning America this week.

Mike notes that Jim Gray is not part of Golf Channel’s coverage of The Masters^® this year.

Rachel Cohen from the Associated Press says TV networks are trying to work out the kinks of shooting sports in 3-D.

From Yahoo’s The PostGame, Eric Adelson talks to former CBS golf announcer Ben Wright whose “Yes Sir!” call of Jack Nicklaus win in the 1986 Masters has been overshadowed and ignored by Verne Lundquist’s.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News notes that ESPN’s ratings for its opening round coverage of The Masters^® were down from the year before.

Mike says the ratings for The Masters^® did go up Friday when Tiger Woods got back into contention.

R. Thomas Umstead at Multichannel says UFC has signed a multiyear sponsorship deal with Bud Light.

Anthony Crupi of Adweek says when you take bar and hotel viewing into account, the ratings for the NCAA Tournament goes up 20%.

Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid writes that the Joe Buck hate reached a fever pitch on Twitter during yesterday’s Yankees-Red Sox game on Fox.

Mohammed Rahman of SportsGrid says ESPN’s Jon Gruden hasn’t met a player he hasn’t liked.

The New York Post’s Phil Mushnick goes after EA Sports for not toning down the violence in the Madden NFL 12 video game.

Annie Karni of the Post talks with Jenn Sterger’s ex-manager (not Jenn herself?) about how it’s all Brett Favre’s fault that she can’t get her career off the ground. If you read the story in full, you’ll see that apparently Sterger’s interview with Good Morning America could lead into her working for ABC. In what capacity, I have no idea.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says ESPN’s ratings for the 2nd round of The Masters^® were down from last year.

Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post has former Nationals President Stan Kasten denying that former MASN TV analyst Rob Dibble was let go following an e-mail from the father of pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

At the WaPo’s DC Sports Bog, Dan Steinberg has Dibble responding to Kasten.

Mike Frandsen of the Washington Examiner says Dan Snyder’s Red Zebra DC radio station is defending its policy to pick up Baltimore Orioles games.

Greg Hardwig of the Naples (FL) Daily News talks with former CBS golf analyst Ken Venturi about watching The Masters without his good friend, the late golf producer Frank Chirkinian.

Mel Bracht from the Daily Oklahoman says 60 Minutes will profile St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman Albert Pujols today.

Evan Binns from the St. Louis Business Journal says Fox Sports Midwest has added some familiar names to its Cardinals games.

The Kirksville (MO) Daily Express reports that a local cable provider won’t be airing 20 Cardinals games this season over a rights fee dispute with Fox Sports Midwest.

David Southorn of the Idaho Press-Tribune has the complete 2011 Mountain West football TV schedule.

Steve Lepore at Puck The Media notes that NHL Network will reveal all of the playoff matchups tonight.

Awful Announcing says St. John’s basketball coach and former ESPN analyst Steve Lavin has prostate cancer. Our best wishes to Steve.

That’s going to do it for today.

Some Thursday Links

This day has been a headspinner as there was too much commotion at my Massachusetts office and the minute I step into the Rhode Island office, there was too much commotion. It’s the type of day where college basketball needs to reign supreme and thankfully, the NCAA Tournament is back in action. In case you’re wondering who is calling the games, check out my post on the Sweet Sixteen tip times.

Now to the links.

USA Today’s Mike McCarthy says former NFL coach Bill Parcells returns to ESPN for a one-time special on the Draft.

Tim Gardner of USA Today says Virginia Commonwealth University is taking the opportunity to bash ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

Reid Cherner from USA Today looks at a new movie based on high school wrestling.

At the Sporting News, Tripp Mickle of Sports Business Daily/Journal writes that the NASCAR Media Group is trying to diversify its portfolio.

Interesting interview conducted by XX Sports Radio with CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus who assesses how the first week of the NCAA Tournament went under the new CBS/Turner Sports consortium.

Adweek’s Anthony Crupi says CBS/Turner made the NCAA Tournament into a viewing masterpiece.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life Magazine says Turner Media Group is using real-time billboards to keep commuters updated on the NCAA Tournament.

Marcus Vanderberg from SportsNewser says the two Oregon men arrested for stealing the Lee Corso head from the College GameDay set have pleaded guilty to the theft.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid says Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi went too far in asking whether University of Florida basketball players are engaging in premarital sex.

Dan Daley at Sports Video Group looks at how TV production crews try to pick up the crack of the bat during MLB games.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with Tiger Woods about his new pricey iPhone app.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports proposes a new NCAA Tournament drinking game to liven up your watching of college basketball.

Lynette Rice of Entertainment Weekly says Eliza Dushku will play the character based on Friend of Fang’s Bites Michelle Beadle in the new CBS sitcom that will star Damon Wayans who is supposedly playing a character based on ESPN Radio hack Colin Cowherd.

Eliza made the announcement on her Facebook page and on Twitter last night.

Tom Renner of The Daily Fairfield (CT) recaps an appearance made by four ESPN SportsCenter anchors led by Bob Ley.

Ken McMillan from the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record says WPIX has announced its Mets schedule for 2011.

In the New Jersey Newsroom, Evan Weiner writes that we may not like it, but sports owners are entitled to every penny they make from sweetheart stadium revenue deals.

Keith Groller from the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says former CBS college basketball bitter curmudgeon analyst Billy Packer will be on HBO next week.

Laura Nachman says Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia has announced its 2011 Phillies schedule.

Jen Royle writes her last post for MASN as she leaves the regional sports network to focus on radio.

Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner notes that Jen will be the host of a new Baltimore Orioles-centric pre and post game show.

Jim says the ratings prove that viewers like having access to all of the NCAA Tournament games.

David Barron of the Houston Chronicle says through TV and mobile apps, fans are finding ways to watch the NCAA Tournament.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks with CBS’ Clark Kellogg.

Bob also talks with ESPN’s Jay Bilas.

Baxter Holmes of the Los Angeles Times notes that Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller was once on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

ESPN Films documentary on “The Fab Five” will air in Canada next week.

The Canadian Sports Media Blog notes that the Canadian Soccer Championships will be on TV once again.

Dave Kohl from Major League Programs talks about the NCAA Tournament coverage.

We’ll end with a video that’s making the rounds of the sports blogosphere today. It’s Funny of Die getting Screamin’ Gus Johnson to describe some of the greatest moments in history as only Gus can.

And we’re done.

Finally Getting To The Linkage

Being surprised earlier today by a sudden trip to a jobsite threw me off today so I’m late getting to the linkage, but it’ll be here. Let’s go.

First, Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute pens the first column as the ESPN Ombudsman. She and two other Poynter Institute faculty will write monthly columns, sometimes more, as the Ombudsman.

Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at Louisville coach Rick Pitino getting his second guest analyst gig in two weeks, this time for ESPN.

Mike McCarthy of USA Today writes about Tiger Woods’ new pricey iPhone app.

Eammon Brennan of ESPN.com says more people are watching the NCAA Tournament than ever.

Julie Jargon from the Wall Street Journal says ESPN Insider content will be available at Starbucks in-store digital wireless network throughout the country.

Tim Baysinger from Broadcasting & Cable says New York’s WWOR is set with a new 21 game Yankees schedule.

Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News looks at the Sport Emmy Award nominations.

Kurt Badenhausen from Forbes writes about MLB’s most valuable franchises with the teams you’d expect at 1-2.

Also from Forbes, Michael Humphrey says the NFL could learn a thing or two from March Madness on Demand.

Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser says CBS/Turner is bringing in guest analysts for all three of its platforms for the NCAA Tournament.

Glenn Davis at SportsGrid talks about Buzz Bissinger going off on Jimmer Fredette.

Toni Fitzgerald of Media Life writes that Sunday night was a big night for the NCAA Tournament on cable.

Tim Nudd from Adweek examines ESPN’s new MLB Opening Day promo.

Alex Colon from PC Magazine notes that ESPN Radio will now be available on Slacker Radio mobile apps.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says a number of MLB ballparks will be serving Food Network-sponsored concessions.

Darren looks at the top MLB team jersey sales.

And Darren points out that a coach who gets hot during the NCAA Tournament can make it very difficult for a smaller school to keep him.

Dan Lewandowski of Speed.com looks at Versus’ broadcast team for IndyCar races this season.

Boston Sports Media Watch’s Bruce Allen has some suggestions for sports writers who don’t quite know how to use Twitter correctly.

Kimberly Primicerio of the Meriden (CT) Record-Journal talks about ESPN’s commitment to expand its World Headquarters in the Constitution State.

Newsday’s Bobby Cassidy points out that the courageous Nick Charles who’s been fighting cancer, will call the first fight on HBO’s Boxing After Dark card on Saturday.

Newsday’s Neil Best has the WWOR-TV Yankees schedule for this season.

At Fishbowl NY, Jerry Barmash talks with a WFAN part-timer who’s hosting an internet sports talk show.

Jerry talks with a WCBS-TV anchor who’s hosting an NCAA Tournament wrap-up show that’s been airing on CBS-owned stations.

Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia will appear on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Pete has MLB Network’s live game schedule for April.

Tom Jones of the St. Petersburg Times notes that ESPN’s Jon Gruden got his second Sports Emmy nomination in as many years.

Eric Deggans from the Times wonders if the NFL lockout could get into the way of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ chances to be in HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer.

Charles Hollis from the Birmingham (AL) News likes having Charles Barkley on the NCAA Tournament.

Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman says ESPN2 HD viewers missed out on much of Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Tournament game involving the Sooners.

Mel says the NCAA Tournament is dominating the sports TV ratings.

John Kiesewetter at the Cincinnati Enquirer says fans will get to see a different side of the Reds on Sunday both in person and on TV.

John has more on the live Reds event.

John notes that two announcers with Cincinnati ties are up for Sports Emmys.

Ed Sherman of Crain’s Chicago Business says a lineup change at the local ESPN Radio affiliate is only temporary.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says ESPN’s MLB analysts pin some high hopes on the Brewers.

Bob says CBS/Turner continues to bring in current college coaches to its March Madness coverage.

Eric Morken from the Alexandria (MN) Echo Press says Twins fans won’t be able to watch games on over the air TV anymore.

Bruce Dowbiggin from the Toronto Globe and Mail examines the MLS ratings in Canada.

The Lost Letterman blog grades the TNT additions to the CBS/Turner NCAA Tournament staff.

Sports Media Watch says the NHL on NBC really got beat up on Sunday.

SMW says thanks to the NCAA Tournament, truTV had its most watched week.

I’ll end it there for now. I hope to do some night linkage later.

Tiger Woods Appears With Jimmy Fallon

Late last night or early this morning, whichever you prefer, Tiger Woods made a rare talk show appearance. It was to promote his new video game. But before talking about Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, he and Jimmy Fallon discussed how Woods gave him plenty of material over the last couple of years.

In this video, Jimmy talks about beating Tiger in the 2010 version of the video game.

In this video, Tiger shows off his game to Jimmy Fallon and the always lovely Amy Poehler from Parks & Recreation.

And lastly, more of Jimmy, Tiger and Amy.

There you have it.